Recipe for disaster?
by sirena1
Summary: AU fic. Be gentle. Buffy and co. are police officers, Angel's the new guy on the force, and Buffy's new partner. Will a new romance bloom? Or will troubled pasts and an old enemy ruin any chance they have of being happy together?
1. The beginning

Hey! This is my third story as you all probably know,(yes, I will be finishing the other two stories. I hope to get the next chapters of both posted over Christmas break.) and I hope to make this the best. The idea hit me on the way home from a shopping trip and I haven't been able to get it out of my head. It just seems to be the perfect idea for an AU fic. So, here goes nothing. I hope you get a good laugh out of it if nothing else. 

Title: Recipe for Disaster?

Rating: At the moment PG-13

Summary: AU fic in the strictest sense of the word. Buffy and Co. are police officers and Angel's the new detective on the force. Is there a budding romance in the cards or a recipe for disaster? 

A/N: To Rebecca: I think I know what I'm doing on this one. No quint jumps or misinformation involved. Just a normal AU fic. And it is fiction because the characters are fictional, as is the plot. So get **_your_** facts straight before you go insulting mine.

Detective Buffy Summers walked into the police station at eight fifteen looking haggard and worn out from a late night stake out of the house of a local woman who thought she was being stalked by her ex husband. She had been out until one in the morning and had been rewarded with very little sleep. Luckily, everything had turned out to be a false alarm and she was able to finish the paperwork on the case that morning.

"Summers! In my office!" Police Chief Rupert Giles demanded, seeing Buffy heading toward her office. Buffy turned and walked into Giles' office.

"Yeah Chief?"

"Buffy, have a seat. I need to talk to you about a very pressing matter."

"What's the matter?"

"Nothing's wrong. How long have you been here Buffy? Four years?"

Buffy nodded. "I graduated from the academy when I was nineteen, came here right after. Made detective two years after that and here I am. Why? Am I up for something?"

"In two months you're up for another promotion. But that's not why you're here."

"Why am I here?"

"We have a new guy coming in later this week. A detective like you. A couple years older though. He's twenty five I believe. Anyway, he's a transfer from San Diego and he needs a partner. Seeing as how you've been without one for a while, I'm assigning him to you. He'll be here tomorrow morning. He got in this morning and starts promptly at eight a.m. Any questions?"

"Why me? There are plenty of newbies out of the academy."

"You're on his level and you think the same way. I met with him earlier this morning and I think you'll get along very well. By the way, how was the stake out?"

"Nothing turned up. The ex was in bed all night and the stalker turned out to be a family of raccoons in the garbage cans. I'm writing up my report this morning. What's next for me to do?"

"Nothing right now. Catch up on your paper work and see Finn for an assignment. He's got the board this week. Make sure he doesn't give you something one of the new guys could handle. I want you on the street today. It'll do you good. Fresh air."

Buffy stood up and left the room. She headed down to her small office and grudgingly looked at the pile of paper work on her desk. She sighed in resignation and sat down to work. It was going to be a very long day.

After four hours of paperwork, Buffy decided to call her long time best friend, Willow Rosenberg for lunch. Willow and her husband, Daniel "Oz" Osbourne owned a small computer company together and Buffy routinely met Willow for lunch at a local restaurant called 'Callie's.' It had become tradition. She picked up the phone and dialed Willow's number from memory.

"Osbourne computers, Willow speaking, how may I help you?"

"Hey Will, it's Buffy."

"Hey! What's going on?"

"Not much. I was just getting ready to go out for lunch at Callie's. Do you want to come?"

"I can't. We're really busy in here right now and I can't get away. Sorry. Maybe tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow I'm training the new guy on the force. A detective and my new partner."

"You're being assigned someone new? I thought that after what happened you weren't going to have a new partner?"

"I didn't ask for it. But I'll be more careful this time. There is no way I am going to let another partner of mine get shot and killed." Buffy said vehemently. "This guy is already a detective and he's out of San Diego so I bet he knows what he's doing." She finished.

"I hope for your sake that he does. I know how bad it hurt you when Kim died."

Willow was referring to Buffy's late partner, Kimberly Sullivan. She had been fresh out of the academy, barely twenty when she was assigned to be trained by Buffy. They had been called to a bank robbery turned hostage situation and Kim had been too inexperienced to know how to handle the situation well. Shots were fired and Kim had moved out of the way just as Buffy fired a shot. The bullet hit Kim, who had just stepped in front of her in the back. It had struck her spinal cord and she had later died in surgery. That had been a year and a half ago and Buffy had refused to take on another partner since.

"Buffy? Are you there?" Willow interrupted Buffy's train of thought.

"What? Yeah. I've gotta go Will. I'll call you about lunch later this week, okay?"

"Sure. Bye."

"Bye." Buffy said hurriedly, hanging up the phone and slumping back down into her chair. She was still sitting there, looking out into space when Alexander Harris, nicknamed Xander, walked into her office.

"Hey. What's with the long face?"

Buffy sighed deeply. "Kimmy thoughts. I'm getting assigned a new partner. Giles didn't give me a choice. He's from San Diego and a detective. I was talking to Will and she brought up Kim. Ergo, I sit here and brood for a while until Riley comes down here and gives me an assignment."

"Are you on double duty?"

"Twelve hour. Not quite a double, but close."

"I'm going home for lunch with Anya and the baby. Would you like to come? She's been bugging me to bring you home for a while now."

"I wouldn't be very good company."

"Ahn doesn't need company. She talks enough for all three of us sometimes."

Buffy offered a small smile. "That she does. Are you sure you want me coming along to ruin your lunch?"

"Positive. And you won't ruin my lunch. I promise. Come on. If you can sneak out of here before you get an assignment, I bet you get to go out on patrol. The easiest job of them all."

"Okay, let's go. I really do not want to be stuck doing something boring like paperwork for the rest of the day. I've done enough already." Buffy relented, standing and tugging on her leather jacket over her red T-shirt and jeans. She grabbed her purse and followed Xander down to his car. The good thing about going to lunch together was the gas they saved.

Anya was waiting for them just inside the door. She brushed past Xander to hug Buffy, who had hung back slightly. "Buffy! Oh, it's been so long since I've seen you! Andrea misses you so much!" Anya exclaimed, referring to her eight month old baby girl.

Buffy returned her hug tentatively. Anya tended to get overexcited easily and Buffy could tell she was ready to get out of the house. "I was over here last weekend Ahn."

"Yeah well, how long has it been since we took a day and went shopping? Just you, me, Willow and Cordelia? Keeping in mind that I still don't like Cordelia."

"A couple months."

"Are you free this weekend?"

"As far as I know. Why? I may have to work."

"If you don't have to work will you go shopping with me? We'll leave Andrea with Xander and Oz and we girls can go to the mall."

"If I don't have to work. But I'm getting a new partner, so odds are I'll have to go through all the training stuff with him this weekend."

Anya seemed to deflate a little. But she regained her happiness when Andrea gurgled from her high chair and threw her lunch all over Xander. Both women burst into laughter at the sight of Xander standing in the middle of the kitchen with peas, carrots and apple sauce all over him. Xander scowled horribly and headed into the bedroom to change his clothes.

"Good baby. Get Daddy all messy." Buffy encouraged her, cleaning up what had fallen to the floor. "So Anya, what's for lunch?"

"I made spaghetti and meatballs with salad and garlic bread."

Buffy just looked at her. "All that for lunch? If you keep feeding me like this every time I come over, I'll gain fifty pounds by Christmas."

"All that for lunch. You're getting an invitation to dinner tonight too."

"I can't. I work until eight tonight." Buffy declined, picking Andrea up. The baby giggled and wrapped her hands in Buffy's hair. Buffy detangled her hair from the baby's fists and tossed her blonde locks over her shoulder to keep them out of Andrea's reach.

"Xander hurry up! Lunch is on the table and Buffy and I are going to eat without you."

Xander reappeared in clean jeans and a blue button up shirt and joined the women at the table. Anya served them all their food and they ate for several minutes in complete silence. Finally Anya broke the silence.

"So, Buffy, have you found a boyfriend yet?" she asked casually.

Buffy stared at her for a minute. "What do I need with a boyfriend? I'm happy being single."

"Well, you're like the last single person. Xander and I are married, Willow and Oz are married, Fred and Gunn are married and Cordelia and Doyle are engaged. You're still unmarried, unengaged, and unattached. It's just not natural for a woman your age to be single."

"I'm twenty three Anya. I won't be twenty four until January. That's hardly too old to be single." Buffy defended herself, looking at Xander for support.

"She's right you know. Twenty three isn't old. She has plenty of time if she even decided to get married."

"Ha! I'll even bet you're still a virgin." Anya stated, noting with satisfaction the color of red that Buffy's face turned. "I'm right aren't I?"

"That is none of our business, honey." Xander reminded his wife, trying desperately to fix the tense situation that was brewing.

"Xander's right. That is none of your business. It's my decision and at the moment I am not looking for a boyfriend. So let's leave it at that, okay?"

Anya surprised them both by relenting. She just nodded and finished her lunch quietly. Then Buffy's radio started to go off. She grabbed it and flipped the switch. "Summers here, what's going on?"

"Summers, you and Harris need to get over to the First National Bank, there's a hostage situation. Bank robbery gone bad." 

"We're on our way." Buffy said, swallowing hard. She looked at Xander. "We have a hostage situation. We're close to it so we need to go. Now."

Xander was right behind her as they dashed out the door and down the stairs. Buffy slid behind the wheel of Xander's car and he tossed her his keys. She turned the car on, gunned the engine and stomped on the gas pedal, rocketing them in the direction of the bank. She parked half a block away, grabbed her standard issue out of her holster and headed into the scene. They were the first officers there. Buffy stooped behind a large trash can and took survey of the scene even as she heard sirens in the distance. She saw the would be bank robbers looking around nervously and saw Xander sneaking around the side of the building, looking for a way in. Suddenly all Hell broke loose. The robbers burst through the door and made a run for it, shooting at everyone who got in their way, including Xander. He took a slug in the shoulder and went down hard. Buffy ran toward them, planted her feet firmly and ordered at them to stop. When they just fired at her, she opened fire on them. Her first shot hit one squarely in the chest and the next few went astray before they got so close to her that she knew she had to move or get shot.

Suddenly, a large body collided with hers and sent her flying, the man landing directly on top of her. She grunted and placed her gun to his temple, still not sure if he was friend or foe. "Who are you?"

"Detective. New on the Sunnydale PD. Now let's move and get those guys." He ordered, surging to his feet. Buffy got up and followed his lead, leading her back into the fray of things, where cars were arriving and some of the robbers, five in all, minus the one she had killed, were trying to escape. She spotted one climbing up a nearby fire escape and took off after him. The strange, handsome man followed her closely.

Angel followed the woman up the fire escape and removed his own gum, a Sig., from his holster that he wore underneath his jacket. Suddenly the woman stopped, leaned back with one hand on the railing and fired a shot, knocking the man who had followed him off of the ladder. Then she continued up to the roof where the man they were chasing was several steps in front of her. She hopped onto the roof and again announced her presence and told him to drop his weapon. When a bullet sailed right past her head in reply, she opened fire. 

Buffy pulled the trigger one final time just as she felt a bullet cut through the flesh of her hip. She grunted and fell to the ground, seeing the robber hit the ground as the strange man flew into him. She tossed him her handcuffs and radioed for help. The man handcuffed him to a thick pipe and hurried over to where she was lying in a slowly spreading puddle of blood.

"Are you okay?" he asked, sitting down beside her.

Buffy nodded. "Fine. Took a good fall though. It's just a flesh wound. I'll be fine."

"Good. Well I suppose I should introduce myself. I'm Angel Sullivan, the newest addition to the Sunnydale PD."

Buffy felt tears begin to swim in her eyes. Sullivan. He had looked familiar. A grieving brother on the day of Kim's funeral. Angel was Kim's older brother. Buffy swallowed forcefully and looked at Angel. "I'm Buffy Summers. And I killed your sister."

Angel was taken aback. He thought she had looked familiar. The details of his sister's accident began coming back to him. Shot by her partner in the line of duty. Caught in the line of fire. Died in surgery, the bullet had ribbed through too much spine. A crying woman at the viewing and funeral being held up by a man and what looked to be his very pregnant wife. The partner's name—Buffy Summers. Also named as his new partner. The irony almost made him laugh. He wanted to say something, but instead he rubbed one of her shoulders ad pressed his other hand to the deep wound in her hip. No matter what she said, she'd be getting stitches, a hospital stay and one hell of a sore hip for her efforts.

"Detective?" Buffy's soft voice cut through the haze of his thoughts. "Detective, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anything."

"You're assigned to be my partner." Angel said softly. Buffy looked surprised.

"I swear I had no idea it was you. If I had I probably wouldn't have accepted the assignment. And I suppose I should apologize since I never got a chance to the day of Kim's funeral."

"That isn't necessary." Angel said after a pregnant pause. "It was ruled an accident and no charges were brought against you so I have no valid reason to blame you for shooting my sister in the back."

Buffy felt tears well up in her eyes. "Detective, it's no offense to you or your family, but you don't have a clue what happened that day. I was there, I know how everything went down, and it was not my fault that Kim got shot. I loved her like I love my own little sister and I would never have intentionally done anything to hurt her. But she was inexperienced, and it was that inexperience and a sick twist of fate that got her killed. Had I been a microsecond faster or slower pulling the trigger, she would still be alive, and that will always weigh very heavy on my mind, but, technically, and legally, what happened was not my fault, What you and I believe may be different, but facts speak for themselves and the facts say that I did not intentionally kill Kim."

Angel was silent for a long time. For some reason the police were not sending anybody to help him get her off the roof. She was still bleeding and he began to consider her needing a blood transfusion. "Miss Summers, I was rude and I'm sorry. I know it wasn't your fault. But my family and I, we never got the full story. All we were told is that she was accidentally shot in the back by her partner. We automatically that her partner was more rookie than she was, and aimed badly. We were never given any reason to believe that she stepped in front of you just as you fired."

"Do you want to hear the story while we wait?"

Angel nodded. "I would. If you wouldn't mind telling it to me."

Buffy took a deep breath. "I live not too far from the Bank of America, where the hold up took place. Kimmy and I had gone to my apartment for lunch. We had just finished eating when the call came through about a bank robbery. We were about two minutes away from the scene. We arrived first on the scene, with several other cars not too far behind. Kim and I took up post behind a pedestrian car close to the front entrance and were there when the robbers came out firing. I took a few shots over the trunk, but Kim couldn't get a shot without getting shot herself. So she decided to move. I sat back to get a good shot on the guy directly in front of the car. From where I was all I could see was his calves and that would've just made him mad. Just as I took my shot, Kim moved in front of me. The bullet hit her in the middle of the back. It went through her stomach and came out through her liver. The ambulance took her to Sunnydale General for emergency surgery and life flight, but she died in surgery." Buffy finished, looking about an inch away from tears.

"I was never told all that." Angel said softly. "Dad was so proud when both his kids went into the force. Kim always wanted to be a doctor, but when Dad got cancer when she was seventeen, she decided to go into the force to make his last years happy. He died not even a week after her graduation from the academy. When she moved to Sunnydale, we all thought it was for the best. A small, quiet town with a low crime rate for her to live in. She wasn't made for the force. She was made to be a doctor. But she ended up loving being a police officer. And when she died, it was an automatic thing to blame her partner. Especially when the report said that the bullet that killed her came from your gun."

Buffy nodded. "I can't even imagine how that must have felt. I wouldn't want to imagine how that must have felt."

Angel looked into her eyes and slowly reached up to brush away a stray tear that was trailing down her face. "I didn't mean to make you cry." He apologized.

"That's okay. You didn't. The pain in my hip and all the memories that I'd sooner forget did."

Angel chuckled softly and pressed harder against the sluggish bleeding. "We've got to get you off this roof before you bleed to death. Can you stand up?"

"I think so. Why?"

"If you can stand up, then I can carry you down."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Buffy slowly stood up and let Angel help her climb onto his back. He grabbed her thighs to balance her and walked toward the edge, his muscles barely straining beneath her slight weight. She adjusted her weight on his back slightly to keep it even and leaned back so he could descend the ladder slowly so they had less of a risk of falling than if she had been completely in the middle of his back.

Once on the ground, a paramedic ran over and got under one of Buffy's arms to lead her to a nearby ambulance. Another paramedic rushed over and helped her get on a gurney while Angle told them what had happened. Finally they started to load her. She stopped them right before they closed the door.

"Angel?" she asked softly.

"Yeah?"

"Come with me?" she asked, her eyes begging him to go with her. He smiled and climbed in beside her, reaching out with one hand to rub her arm.

"Always."

Well, that's the end of chapter one? Andy ideas for how it should progress? Let me know. Liked it, didn't like it, let me know. Next chapter will hopefully be up in a week or two. Anyone interested in being my beta reader, let me know. If possible I would like for you to have had experience before. Not a necessity though.


	2. Disasters begin

Hey people! I'm back with another part of Recipe for Disaster? Aren't you excited? Yeah right. Anyway, sorry for the major delay in updating, but I've been busy beyond belief. And someone reported me to ff.net administration b/c they found my opinions of characters and what I called rated R to be misleading and improper and my account was frozen for a week. I was ticked off. But I'm back now, I may be a little bitter, but I'm back. So, on with the story!

__

Always. That word echoed through Buffy Summers' head as she prepared to start her day. It was her first day back on the job since the bank robbery and shoot out nearly two weeks earlier. She hadn't seen Angel since that awful day. He had ridden with her to the hospital and stayed to make sure she was all right, but then had left. Giles had put her on a ten-day medical leave and she had had no reason to see Angel. He had had no reason to see her either.

_But, _Buffy thought, _for some reason that doesn't make me happy. If you're honest with yourself Summers, you know you would have like for him to have had a good reason to come visit you._

"Hey Summers, come in here and get your assignment." Sergeant Riley Finn yelled to Buffy as she passed his office. She sighed in resignation and walked in.

"So, what do I get? And it had better not be something a rookie can do." Buffy warned sternly. Riley had a knack for handing her all the cases and jobs no one else wanted. He did offer to give her all the good ones if she went out with him however. 

"There's an abundance of paperwork you need to get done, I'm sure. But as soon as you're done with that, you're getting put on call for the SVU."

"Special Victims Unit? Why?"

"Chief thinks you're compassionate enough to work the cases and tough enough to handle them. Same for Detective Sullivan. So, that's your assignment. Were I you, I'd go get on that paperwork. I'd be glad to help if you'd say, go out to dinner with me tonight."

"Thanks Riley, but I think I can handle it on my own. Besides, a Detective's paperwork is just slightly different from that of a Sergeant." She said, reminding him again of the differences in their rank. He offered a tight smile that she returned before walking out of his small office.

Buffy was emerged in piles of paperwork when Angel arrived in their office. She had reports spread out all over her desk and was filling out no less than five all at the same time. He smiled at her determination to get them all done and set a styrofoam cup of coffee in front of her. She looked up and offered a thankful smile.

"I forgot all about coffee this morning when I left my apartment. You are a life saver."

"You might want to repeat that statement when I tell you that I already have copies of all of those reports done and filed away for the Chief to look at. You don't have to do them all over again. Just fill out the affidavits."

"Angel," Buffy said, shaking her head, "I love you." She teased, closing the files. "The affidavits are the first things I do. They've already been turned in. Have you talked to Finn yet?"

"Yeah, he said to ask you if you two were still on for dinner tonight."

Buffy stood up and walked to the door. "Hey Finn!" she yelled. When he looked up she continued. "In your dreams!" she finished. Then she turned and walked back into their office. 

Angel raised an eyebrow at the display. "So, I take it the two of you have some unresolved issues?"

"Unresolved? No way. He's the guy in charge of assignments. HE always gives me the crappy ones with the promise of the good ones if I go out with him. I think he'd let me pick my assignment if I went to bed with him."

"That's quite an arrangement."

"There is no arrangement. I don't like him, so I either petition Giles for something better or take whatever he gives me. It makes no difference to me. Either way I end up with something worth doing. Most of the time anyway."

"There is that 'most of the time' thing stuck in there. So we get SVU this time around. Have you ever worked it before?"

"Once, four years ago. My first rotation was the SVU. I went, did the case, a real messy one, and then got put on a desk job for a while before I got put in a squad car."

"What happened?"

"One the case?"

"Yeah. Who was the victim? What happened to them?"

"A sixteen year old student at Sunnydale High. Her father was a registered pedophile, but her mother didn't know when she married him. When she turned twelve he began sexual improprieties. Kissing her, fondling her breasts, that sort of thing, but nothing that would ever hold up in court. Finally when she turned fifteen he began raping her. She turned him in when she was a little over sixteen and a half and the next day she turned up dead. Raped, beaten and strangled. That was my first case as a police officer. We did end up putting him away. He lasted two weeks in jail before the other inmates killed him. However, he didn't get killed just for his daughter. While he was on the loose and we didn't have enough evidence to put him away, or even arrest him, he raped several other girls. Towards the end he got sloppy and forgot to use a condom. That girl was the one that finally put him away. We convicted him of the other crimes using videos he had made of the encounters. We found them when we finally got a search warrant for his house."

"That's awful. Who was the last victim? Anyone around here?"

"Yeah. His daughter's best friend. And my younger sister."

"So you let it get personal. In that situation that is completely understandable. I would've wanted to kill the son of a bitch myself."

"I nearly did. That's why I got stuck behind a desk. I was the one to catch him. We fought and I almost shot him. We were wrestling over my gun and I got the upper hand somehow. Next on the scene was Finn and he reported that I was waving my gun like a mad woman trying to shoot him. Apparently he had to forcibly disarm me and complete the arrest himself."

"What really happened?"

"I barely stopped myself from shooting him and when Finn got there he wanted to be the hero so he knocked me out with his gun and completed the arrest. Got a field promotion for it too."

"That must have pissed you off."

"That did more that piss me off. I was only nineteen, a newbie and he had already made me look unstable and psychotic."

Buffy fell silent after that as she filed away her affidavits and cleared her desk of paperwork. Finally she finished the job and dug through her personal files. Finding the one she was after, she tossed it to Angel. He looked down and saw the reports made on the rape case. He began sifting through them until Xander walked in and perched on Buffy's desk.

"Hey. I didn't know you were back today." 

"Yeah, here I am. What are you doing for lunch?"

"Getting a nice greasy hamburger and a pile of fries. Sound like something you'd be interested in?"

"Nah. I think I'll call Will and see what she's doing. I haven't seen her in three weeks."

"Good idea. She has some news for you."

"Like what?"

"I'm not allowed to say."

"Spit it out Harris."

"Fine. She's pregnant. Just found out yesterday. She's already three months."

"She's three months pregnant and she didn't know? That's unusual."

"Tell me about it. I said that I bet she had a sneaking suspicion and just didn't want to tell anybody."

"Probably. So, I'll see you later then. Tell Anya and the baby I said hi."

"Will do."

Buffy sighed when Xander left and picked up the phone to call Willow. She hoped she hadn't already made plans for lunch. She dialed the familiar number and Willow picked up on the fourth ring. She sounded out of breath and in a hurry.

"Osbourne Computers, Willow speaking. How may I help you?"

"Congratulations Willow."

"Buffy! Oh, how are you? I'm so sorry I didn't come see you in the hospital, but things have been so hectic lately. You have no idea what we've been going through. All our systems got a virus and we had to reboot and reinstall everything into all our computers. It has taken so long you wouldn't believe me of I told you."

"Well I'm glad it's all okay now."

"Who said it's all okay? I certainly didn't. I was here till two in the morning last night and I got back here at seven this morning. I don't think we'll ever get to go home."

"I think that you and Oz need to go home and get in bed. You need some sleep or you'll never get anything done."

"Buffy, we're fine. And we're older than you so we all know what we're doing."

Buffy scowled at the age comment even though it was true. All her friends were three or four years older than she was. Willow and Oz were twenty six, Xander was twenty seven, Anya was twenty five, Cordelia and Doyle were twenty six, Wesley was thirty and Gunn and Fred were twenty eight. And she was only twenty-three.

"Don't remind me." Buffy said tersely. "Anyway, do you have time for lunch today?"

"I have to meet my parents to tell them about the baby. Sorry, but it's gonna have to wait until this weekend"

"I have another meeting with my mom on Saturday. It'll be the same old why aren't you married yet? I want grandchildren to spoil. Why did you have to become a detective? You'll never meet any nice men that way. It's not too late to become a doctor. You should go back to college, things. So, Sunday?"

"I can't. My niece is coming to stay with me and you know how she is."

"Yeah. Well Will, I better get off of here. Duty calls. I'll call you later tonight."

"Great. Bye."

"Bye."

Buffy hung up the phone and stood. She'd seen one of the regular detectives from SVU coming their direction and she wanted to head them off before they wasted her entire morning drilling her on protocol. She met him halfway across the room and held out her hand for him to shake. He warily took it and shook her hand.

"Detective Roberts, I'm Detective Summers. It's nice to see you. What's the case?"

"Don't know yet. We got a call about a body being found down by the docks. Female, young, around twenty, skirt is bunched around her waist and her blouse is torn open. I don't have time to drill you, so I'm gonna have to trust you. We've got more calls than we can handle right now, so this on is yours."

"What other calls are there?" 

"One's where the victims are still alive and we can do some real good."

Buffy had a juvenile urge to stick her tongue out at him and was rather embarrassed when she succumbed to that urge as soon as his back was turned. She heard a bout of warm laughter beside her and looked over to see Angel laughing at her. She turned bright red from further embarrassment. Angel just laughed harder.

"I'm glad one of us is amused." She said bitterly.

"I'm more than amused Buff. I think that's downright hilarious. Come on, I got the address from Giles and we're supposed to be down there five minutes ago."

"How far away is it?"

"With me driving? About ten minutes. Come on. We've got to get going or the Detectives on the scene are going to kick our asses. They don't like being stuck with a body and not being allowed to investigate anything."

Buffy relented and followed Angel out to his car, a Corvette convertible. She slid in the passenger's seat and buckled up. Seconds later, he slid the car into gear and they pulled out of the parking lot. Angel was right. With him behind the wheel, they arrived at the crime scene in ten minutes flat. It would have taken her at least fifteen.

"Detectives Sullivan and Summers?" a young police officer asked as they got out of Angel's car.

"Yeah. What've we got?"

"Girl. She's around twenty from what we could see. She's beat up pretty bad, wearing something real skimpy and her skirt's clear up around her waist, shirt's ripped open too. Buttons are clear gone. She don't stink yet, so I bet she hasn't been here a long time. Feel free to take a look, but I gotta warn you, it's pretty nasty back in there."

"Thanks Officer. I think that's what we'll do. You can go ahead and leave if you want to."

"Thanks ma'am."

"No problem, just make sure to fill out your report and send it in. That should be all we need from you."

"Thanks. And I'll do that as soon as I get back to the station."

"Great. Angel, you wanna go see what we got?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Angel led the way into the back of the dingy old building. Buffy had pulled on gloves by the time they got there. "Morgue's full up, so we need to do the prelim stuff here. Look for fabric and skin, blood and stuff like that. You take the surrounding areas, I'll do the body."

"Sounds good to me."

For nearly an hour, Buffy and Angel worked at gathering physical evidence. Buffy did a preliminary rape kit sample and collected hair and skin from the body. She also scraped a little blood from underneath the fingernails.

"Looks like she took a chunk out of him when she went down." Buffy commented, holding up the bloody swab. "We might be able to get a match off of this. It depends on what kind of testing the Chief wants done. If he does full DNA testing then we'll get a positive I.D, but if he goes the cheaper road and just lets us find out what type it is, and if there are any diseases, this could take a while."

"Which does he normally do?"

"The cheap one. See, unlike the LAPD and the SFPD, we're just a locally funded program. We don't get very many state funds, let alone national ones, so we have to pay for this stuff out of our own pockets. Giles skimps on testing and keeps all of us detectives on hand."

"That sucks. Do we have to transport the body too? Or just sit on it until the morgue arrives?"

"Do you really think we can get a body in your flashy little convertible?"

"I did it in San Francisco."

"Go call the morgue and ask them, and then we'll go from there, but we still have evidence to collect."

"I know. I have worked a scene before, contrary to popular belief."

"I never said you haven't. And you'll have to excuse my bossiness, I'm used to working with rookies who would step on the body if I didn't tell them not to."

"I thought you didn't work with a partner?"

"Normally I don't. But on scenes, I am required by law to have another officer on the scene. Usually the only ones available are rookies. After the preliminary exam of the body and scene, I send them home to have nightmares for about six months. Half of them never come back to work after going to a murder. Or a suicide. Those are almost as bad."

"Some of the suicides I've been to are worse than the murders. Especially when they use a large caliber gun and there's gray matter all over. It can get sort of disgusting."

"I know. Well, are you going to call the morgue?"

"Yeah. I'm on my way."

While Angel was gone, Buffy shifted through some of the things nearby that had already been photographed. Several bugs crawled out and she caught them and put them in little jars. She knew an entomologist at the local college who could tell her what they were and if they were there because of the body. When Angel came back with a body bag, she guessed the order was to transport the body and walked over to help him unfold it.

"You take head, I'll take her feet and we lift on three." Buffy said, pulling on gloves so she didn't contaminate the body. She and Angel had already donned plastic robes so they didn't get any fibers on the body. They lifted her with relative ease and moments later, she was zipped up inside a body bag ready to be transported to the county morgue.

"Do you want to sit on the scene or go with the body?"

"Your car, you drive her, I'll sit on the scene. Try and collect some more evidence if I can." 

"Great. I'll see you in a few. Be back as soon as I can."

"You'd better be. I hate this job."

"Hey, I offered to let you drive my car. You said you'd rather stay here."

"Don't remind me."

Five minutes later, Angel was gone. He drove as fast as the law allowed him to and got the body to the county morgue in under half an hour. He and an intern got it onto a gurney and delivered it into an unused autopsy room. The intern uncovered the body and began the preliminary identification processes. Angel decided to stick around and see who it turned out to be. He had a bad feeling.

"I'll be able to get the results rather quickly by putting the fingerprints into the computer. Id she's a resident of the U.S, we'll know who she is in twenty minutes. Can you hang around or do you need to get back to your partner?"

"Buffy's been doing this for four years. She'll be okay for another hour. Let's see who she is. That'll bring us one step closer to finding out who did this to her."

"Yeah." Dr. White agreed, scanning the fingerprints. "So, you and your partner did the rape kit?"

"She did. All the stuff has already been sent to the rape unit upstairs. They'll determine if anything is present."

"Good. What else was there around? Fibers, blood, hair?"

"Fibers and blood, but there's a good chance it's her own blood. There weren't any defensive wounds that we saw, but there may still be some that we can't detect just by a quick examination."

"Yeah. I'll look for those before I begin the autopsy. Let me know if you find anything else. Detective, this is going to be a few more minutes, would you mind if I went upstairs to let my boss know the body's here and get a couple cups of coffee for us?"

"Go ahead. I'll stay here."

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Five minutes later, Dr. White returned with two cups of coffee and handed one to Angel. Then, he walked over to the computer to check the progress. "Okay, we've got a name. Looks like the vic's Tracy King. Resident of San Diego."

Angel grabbed his coat and was out the door in seconds. Buffy had just been put in grave danger.

Buffy was crouching to collect some fibers in the vicinity of where the body had been laying when she heard footsteps approaching from behind her. Assuming that it was Angel, she turned around. It wasn't Angel. It was a large muscular man wearing an expensive suit and smoking a very smelly cigar.

"I'm sorry, this is a crime scene and you can't be here. I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I don't think that's possible Detective. See, I know all about your murder. I committed it. And now I have to clean up the mess. So, if you'll just come with me, I'll make sure you get a bullet to the head. Very painless. You won't feel a thing, I promise."

"Sir, I'm placing you under arrest for first degree murder. Put your hands in the air and turn around." Buffy said, removing her gun and her handcuffs from her belt. "Sir, if you don't do as I say, this will not be a pleasant situation."

"So you expect me to just obey whatever you say? Lady, I just admitted to murder, and I have every intention of killing you. You do not expect me to just let you take me in do you?"

"Yes, I do. Now please put your hands in the air."

Just as Buffy said that the man charged her, and before she could fire a shot he was on top of her. She struggled with him for several seconds, but in the end he was just too strong. He bashed her on the head with the butt of her gun and the world went black. She slumped to the ground and the man stood up and brushed himself off.

"Well. That was interesting. She put up a pretty good fight for a woman." He said, wiping the gun of all fingerprints. She leaned over her and checked quickly to see if she had any skin or blood under her nails. Finding none, he dragged her limp body to a secluded spot and went back to his car for two long pieces of rope. He tied her up and gagged her, then dragged her over to the edge of the docks and dumped her in the ocean.

Buffy woke when she hit the water. She struggled to swim to the surface, but found that she couldn't move. She looked down and, through the murky water, saw that she was tied up. She felt a burn in her lungs begin as she struggled to get out of the ropes, and began to feel light headed as well. The water was ice cold because it was winter and she began to feel heavy and sleepy. Black spots began to swarm in front of her eyes and her movements became sluggish and slow.

Angel pulled to a stop at the crime scene and swore loudly when he didn't see Buffy. He leapt out of his car and ran for the docks to see if she was there. He peered down the docks and turned to leave when he didn't see her. But then, something caught his eye. A small pile of ashes lying on the dock he was standing on. Thanking God that the wind had settled down for the moment, he shed his coat and dove in, praying that he could find Buffy before it was too late.

Angel had dove in the water just a minute after Buffy had been thrown in. He swam as fast as he could toward the bottom and soon enough saw the end of a rope caught in between two large rocks. He tugged it free and followed it to the other end. At the other end he found Buffy. She was unconscious and didn't appear to be alive. He grabbed her and shot to the surface.

Once on the surface, Angel swam with Buffy as a dead weight in his arms to the edge of the docks. He hefted them up and then began CPR on Buffy. Tense minutes that seemed like hours later, she took her first gasping breath and spit up a lungful of water. She opened her eyes and continued coughing until her lungs were empty of the water she had breathed in.

"How did you find me?" were the first words out of Buffy's mouth when she could talk.

"Mostly luck. I saw some ashes and figured you'd been dumped in the ocean and then I found the end of the rope, it had gotten caught in between some rocks and I followed it to you."

"How did you know I'd been attacked?"

"Well, it's a long story. But the cliff notes version is this: the victim is Tracy King. She's the daughter of a mob boss I put away back in San Diego. Well, she had sworn to get back at me for putting her father away before I moved here. So, a rival family found out about the plot and wanted to put a stop to it. They were grateful because I put Clark in prison before he could bring down the DiAngelo family. So they sent someone to kill her. But they weren't supposed to rape her. I'm guessing they sent him back here to clean up the mess before we found out about it. Since you were here, you became another loose end to tie up."

"Well, they didn't do a very good job."

"They would've if I'd been thirty seconds later. I nearly got you killed Buffy."

"No you didn't. They did."

"Who was it who came and attacked you?"

"Big guy. Smoked a cigar, wore expensive suits. He was bald and had on alligator skin boots."

"That would be Frankie. He's their usual hit man. I've never been able to get enough evidence to put him away before. Now though, with you being an eye witness, we should be able to do it."

"Won't they try to kill me though?"

"I won't let anything happen to you Buffy. I swear." Angel promised, cupping her cheek in one of his hands. She smiled at him slowly and tried to keep tears from welling up in her eyes. The situation and the fear of nearly becoming fish food was starting to get to her and she began shaking. Angel grabbed her by her shoulders and gave her a gentle shake. "Hey, you're okay. Calm down. There's nothing going to happen to you now, okay? So just calm down."

"I'm sorry, I think I'm just a little emotional right now."

"And that's completely understandable. But I'm not going to let anything happen to you."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." Angel said, lifting her chin with one finger. Suddenly her green eyes met his chocolate brown ones and she was captivated. Slowly he began leaning forward until their mouths touched hesitantly. He pulled back and, finding that she wasn't hitting him or violently objecting, he leaned back in to kiss her again, for a little longer. She hesitantly kissed back and after a moment, pulled away for a millisecond to get a breath before their mouths crashed together and they began kissing wildly. He parted her lips with his tongue and hers surged forward to meet him. They kissed until their lungs burned for oxygen, then parted only long enough to get a breath. She pushed him back until they were laying on the dock, Buffy on top of him, and their mouths fused together. Finally, after several wild minutes, they parted for more than a moment and Buffy allowed him to sit up.

"What just happened there?" Buffy asked, pulling her soaked jacket tighter around her.

"Well, we just kissed."

"I know that. But why?"

"I'm not really sure. It just seemed like the thing to do. Are you always this questioning?"

"It's my job to ask questions. And I really want to know why you did that."

"Because I wanted to. Okay?" and with that, Angel leaned in to kiss her again.

I'll update soon, I promise! For now, review, review, review!


	3. Enter more problems and Spike

Hey everyone! I would like to apologize for my tardiness in getting this chapter out. I do update rather slowly, but I assure you all that every one of my stories will be finished. I'm just so busy that I don't get very long to write them each day and, as my chapters are long, it does take me a while to finish them. You've all probably been anxiously awaiting the next chapter, and here it is. Same rating, disclaimer and summary as the last two chapters. So, enough with me talking, let's get on to the story!

"Now, Miss Summers, will you state for the court, in your own words, what happened to you one the afternoon of February 16, 2003?" District Attorney Wesley Wyndham Price asked Buffy in court several weeks after her near death experience.

"I had just been assigned to work a case on the SVU with my partner, Angel. We went to the scene and were informed that we had to transport the body. I decided to stay on the scene while he took the body and after he left I was approached by a large man wearing an expensive suit and smoking a very smelly cigar. I told him that he would have to leave because it was a crime scene and he said that he had committed the murder. I attempted to arrest him, and he knocked me out. When I woke up I was underwater and I was tied up. Suddenly Angel dove in and pulled me to the surface."

'Thank you very much Miss Summers. I just have one more question for you. Could you identify your assailant for the court?"

"Yes. The man who attacked me is sitting behind the defense table."

"Thank you, Miss Summers. Your witness, Mt. DiAngelo."

Robert DiAngelo, mob boss and sleazy defense attorney stood up and approached Buffy, a cold glint in his eyes. "Miss Summers, you are a detective with the Sunnydale Police Department, are you not?"

"Actually I was promoted to Lieutenant a month ago. But yes, I work for the Sunnydale PD."

"A promotion. What circumstances was this under?"

"I was reported to have gone above and beyond the call of duty for a bank robbery I worked a while ago."

"You partner, Liam Sullivan, he also received a promotion?"

'Yes."

"For the same thing?"

"Objection Your Honor! What relevance does this have toward his client and the charges being brought here today?"

Judge Wilson looked down his nose at the defense attorney. "I trust you have a point Mr. DiAngelo?"

"I'm merely painting a picture of the supposed victim for the court. I will be making a point shortly."

"Make it quick. I don't like this line of questioning."

"Yes sir. Miss Summers, is it true that two years ago you shot and killed your former partner Kimberly Sullivan?"

"Yes, but…"

"And is it true that Liam Sullivan is Kimberly's older brother?"

"Yes, but that had nothing to do with our relationship as partners."

"Really? Then it isn't true that you and Mr. Sullivan are romantically involved?"

"What does that have to do with anything?"

"Just answer the question Miss Summers."

"Yes, we are dating."

"And is it or is it not true that Mr. Sullivan has a connection to the organized crime syndicate in San Diego?"

"He put some of them away if that's what you mean."

"All right, and is it or is it not true that some of the members of the families he put away swore revenge on him?"

"I don't know. I don't think so. Mr. DiAngelo, I really don't see what this has to do with your client killing and raping and woman and attempting to kill me."

"Allegedly. Nothing has been proven here. And as far as I'm concerned you're a lying little bitch who gets a kick out of screwing the brother of the partner that you killed!"

"OBJECTION!" Wesley roared, shooting up out of his seat. "Your Honor, he is badgering my witness, and that is verbal abuse!"

"Sustained. Mr. DiAngelo, one more thing like that and you will be out of my courtroom. Do you understand that?"

"Yes, Your Honor. I have no more questions."

"Good, the witness may step down. Court is adjourned for the day and will resume at nine tomorrow morning. Mr. DiAngelo, I will see you in my chambers."

Buffy stood shakily and stepped out of the witness stand. Wesley met her at the bottom of the stand with an apologetic look. "He shouldn't have gotten away with that. I'm sorry. I didn't know that he would be doing anything like that."

"Don't worry about it Wes. I can handle it. Besides, everyone knows he's the sleaziest lawyer on the face of the planet."

"Yeah we do. So does the jury if we're lucky. Is Angel meeting you somewhere?"

"We're meeting for dinner at Callie's. He's still trying to work our case while I had to testify."

"That's good. How are you coming with it? Any suspects?"

"One. And you won't believe this. Riley Finn."

"Have you contacted Internal Affairs?"

"Yeah. They're sending a Detective to look through our evidence. I'll have a fax of everything over to you by morning. You can start filing through what we've got, see if you can start making a case."

"I'll have to hand this one off to Cordelia. And I think the defense is calling you as a witness when they get their chance."

"Damn. I was hoping that I was done. Angel?"

"They're calling him too. But don't worry. If anything damaging is done I'll recall you or try to get the testimonies thrown out based on the assault he did in court today. I'd probably stand a good chance. Judge Wilson and I go back to law school together."

"That's good to know. Do you and Cordy want to join us for lunch? We could go over the case."

"I don't think you need to worry about the case right now. Go get some dinner and go home for the night. This has been a rough day."

"Are you sure? We probably won't get much done but talk about it anyway. Oh, and do I need to be here tomorrow?"

"No. I'll still be calling witnesses tomorrow. I'll let you know when it's his turn."

"Thanks, Wes. I appreciate it more that you can believe."

Wesley smiled, and led Buffy out of the room by the elbow. "Just be careful. If this case wasn't getting such big publicity right now, I don't have a doubt that they'd be trying to have both you and Angel killed. And besides me and maybe Cordelia, I don't think that there's a DA or ADA in the country that would take this case on. So watch your back and don't go anywhere alone. I'm even going to drive you to meet Angel."

Buffy accepted the invitation without hesitation. Angel had dropped her off since, the night she had been released from the hospital, her car had been stolen and wrecked beyond repair and she hadn't had time to go looking for a new one. She hadn't been looking forward to the five-mile walk into town.

"Thanks Wesley!" Buffy called after Wesley's car a few minutes later, after he had dropped her off at Callie's. She saw Angel at a booth inside and walked in. He stood up to greet her.

"Hey. How was court?" he asked, bending down to kiss her quickly. "You look exhausted."

"The defense attorney called me a bitch who gets a kick out of screwing the brother of the partner I murdered." Buffy mumbled, still sore about the accusation. "That didn't make me, Wesley, or the judge very happy."

Angel looked ready to find Robert DiAngelo and beat the tar out of him. Buffy laid a hand on his arm and gazed up at him with emerald green eyes that begged him not to get himself into any trouble. Sighing, he kissed the top of her head and gestured for her to sit down, taking the space beside her once she was settled.

"I don't think that you should be alone through this trial."

"That's what Wesley said. Do you really think that I can't take care of myself?"

"You can take care of yourself against drug dealers, people strung up on stuff too dangerous to fathom, and three hundred pound men dunk off their asses and mean as snakes that are trying to stab you in the gut. If the DiAngelo family were any of those things, I would have no worries about leaving you alone. But they are the mob and they have hit men and mercenaries at their fingertips, and right now I have no doubt that they would not hesitate a second to have you killed if they thought they could benefit from it."

"Angel, I can take care of myself."

"I know. But I still want you with me during this thing if only to humor me. Please?"

"I'm not leaving my apartment." Buffy said stubbornly.

"Okay, the I'll stay at yours."

"Are you inviting yourself to stay with me Angel?"

"No. I'm telling you that you don't have a choice. You'll either stay with me, let me stay with you, or I'll have Giles put a watch on your apartment twenty-four hours a day. And that would be pretty embarrassing for a hard ass like you. Take your pick."

Buffy considered her options for a moment. "Okay. I just need to stop by my place and pack some things."

Angel had to take a minute to let that process. "Did you just agree to stay with me until this whole thing blows over?"

"No. I agreed to stay with you until you realize that nothing is going to happen to me, and you'll let me go back to my apartment without an argument."

"I don't think that will happen until this thing is long over and done with, and every one of the DiAngelo's are behind bars."

"Angel, I'm not moving in with you."

"And I'm not asking you to. Neither of us is ready for anything permanent. I know that. I just want to know that you're safe. And I will know that if you're where I can keep an eye on you twenty four hours a day."

"This arrangement won't last long."

"It will last as long as the trial and probably after. Oh, and my parents want us to come up to their house for Christmas."

"Angel, they don't know that you're seeing me. As far as they know I'm just a girl you work with. When they see me, I won't be the woman you've been casually dating, I'll be the person who shot and killed their baby girl and they won't want anything to do with me."

"You can't know that."

"I can and I do. Unlike you, your parents know my name and what I look like. They had me arrested when I went to Kimmy's funeral. Little did I know they had taken out a restraining order against me, and being at the graveyard was just within the distance that I had to stay away from them. I found out later that the exact distance was the distance that a bullet could travel and still give a fatal wound."

"My parents did that? Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I didn't want to upset you, Angel. This thing between us is hard enough as it is. I didn't want outside worries making it even harder."

Angel grabbed her hand and held it tight. "What exactly is hard about this, Buffy?" he asked tightly, trying not to let the emotions he was feeling show through to her.

"Nothing you can help. Just the way I feel. The amount of guilt I have to deal with. The fact that I actually wonder why in the world you haven't shot me yet because of what I did to your sister. I killed her Angel! It may have been accidental, but it was still my fault. I was the experienced one. I should have been paying more attention to what she was doing. Hell, I shouldn't have taken a rookie within a mile of a hostage situation. I made a boatload of mistakes and everyone seemed eager to blame me at first. Then everything came out, and suddenly I was absolved of everyone's guilt but my own. It would be easier if you blamed me. It would be easier if everyone blamed me, because then I would know that I was getting what I deserved. But everyone is anxious to forgive and forget, and that isn't the way it should be."

During her emotional speech, Buffy had begun to cry softly. Angel twisted in the seat and pulled her against his chest, letting her sob into the soft material of his shirt. He ignored the strange looks people were giving them, and instead concentrated on comforting his distraught girlfriend. She fisted her hands in his shirt and held on to him like she would never let go. He crooned to her softly and, after several tense minutes, he felt her stop shaking and loosen her grip on his shirt. As soon as she regained control of her emotions, he hustled her out of the restaurant and into his car.

"We need to talk." He announced tersely, opening and closing her door for her. She buckled her seat belt and waited patiently for him to join her in the car, which he did after a long moment of getting himself in check. After calming his nerves, he joined Buffy in the car and also buckled his seat belt. "Why didn't you tell me any of that before you let things progress between us?" he demanded. Buffy jerked at the tone in his voice, but decided to answer.

"Because I thought that we needed time to get to know each other without all this hanging over our heads. Things were hard enough with the mob and the other case dumped in our laps by Riley, and pulling overtime, and me going to testify. It was going to be making a stressful situation even more stressful for the both of us. I was trying to make things easier. I'm sorry if it didn't work out that way."

Angel sighed deeply. "No, you're right. Things between us have been tense from the start. The way we met, the way we got together, and everything since then has been beyond tense and you were trying to help the situation. But you were hurting yourself keeping everything bottled up inside. I wish you had told me sooner."

"You didn't need anything else to worry about. I was fine and I'd been keeping it to myself for nearly two years, what were a few weeks more gonna matter?"

Angel chuckled and leaned over to hug her. She melted into his embrace and clung on him as relief swept through her body. He pulled back a moment later and kissed her gently for a few seconds, not trying to deepen the kiss or pull her closer. When they broke apart he started the car and drove towards the station.

"We got a lead on the bullet we found on the bullet that we got out of the rape victim. It came from a 9 mm. semi automatic."

"That's the Sunnydale PD standard issue. Did they get a serial number?"

'Filed off. If we can find a witness who corroborates our theory that Riley was at the Bronze Tuesday night around midnight I think we can get a warrant for his gun. If we can test fire it then the lab people can see if they match up."

Buffy almost spit out her pop. "We don't need a warrant!" she exclaimed. "Riley was here before me. Five years before I got here, they required all standard issues to be test fired for the records. It only lasted three years until a case about a police officer having his gun stolen and a murder was committed with it blew over, but I think he was here then. And if we're beyond lucky he still has the same gun."

"You head down to Chief Giles' office and ask. I'll go try and get an alibi we can break from Finn."

Buffy walked into Giles' office ten minutes later. Giles was sitting behind his desk doing paperwork and sipping on coffee she knew from past memory was cold. "If you've got five minutes for me I'll warm up your coffee."

"Get me a new cup and you've got yourself a deal. What can I do for you Buffy?"

"How long ago did Riley come here?"

"Seven years if I'm not mistaken."

"I don't suppose he still has the same gun?"

"You know as well as I do that officers keep their old guns. He has every gun from his very first one, same as you and I. We get refitted every two years."

"Thanks Giles." She said, "I'll be right back with your coffee.

"Thanks. And Buffy? What does this have to do with anything?"

Buffy turned around. "Giles, I have a sneaking suspicion that Riley really did this. Not only did we find his wallet less that a block from the scene of the murder, and not only has he not given us an alibi for that night, the bullet came from a gun exactly like our standard issue. If memory serves me correctly there're five people outside the force who have those guns, and less than three hundred in the state of California. Three of the five are retired police officers. So, in all likelihood we are looking for a dirty cop."

Giles shook his head. "Call the FBI headquarters in Los Angeles. Have them send down a couple of IA agents and explain the situation. I want them here bright eyed and bushy tailed tomorrow morning."

"Will do."

Angel approached Riley slowly. Riley saw him coming and waved. "Hey buddy. What's goin' on? Did Buffy do okay in court?"

"Fine. I actually have a couple questions for you."

"Shoot."

"I need to know where you were between midnight and three A.M. Tuesday night?"

"None of your damn business."

"Ri, I need to know. The bullet that killed that girl came from a standard issue gun. Now I don't think it was a cop. I just need to know where everyone who has one of the guns like ours was Tuesday night. Standard procedure. You know the drill. You've worked murders before."

Riley grinned maliciously. "I was at home. In bed."

"Alone?"

"No."

"Who was with you?"

"I just told you where I was. What do you need to know about my partners?"

"I'll need to corroborate your story."

"Man, I'm sick of this. If I didn't know better I'd say that you were thinking that I offed the slut."

"I don't think that Riley. But I'm beginning to think that you don't want me to know where you were."

"And what if I don't?"

"Then you're in a deep load of shit."

"Fine. I was at home in bed with Buffy, fucking her brains out all night. How's that for an alibi? Of course she won't corroborate it because she was too busy screaming to know what time it was."

Angel launched himself at Riley and hit him around the abdomen. Riley went flying and took Angel with him. They went down in a tangle of arms and legs, fists flying. There were guys trying to pull them apart, but Riley definitely got the worst of it before Xander and another officer, Alan Doyle, pulled him off Riley.

"Angel! Calm down." Xander said, "I know he's a bastard, but he isn't worth getting suspended over. What did he do anyway?"

Angel made a low growling noise in his throat. "He lied about Buffy."

"Lied? Right. You just don't wanna admit that your girlfriend is nothing but a fatass whore who gets it wherever she can. And I happened to be that place on Tuesday."

This time it was Xander who got in punches while Doyle and Angel pulled him off. Doyle looked ready to get in a couple of his own, but one look from Buffy, who had heard every word he had said after Angel had been pulled off him, was enough to make him back off and let the petite blonde have her way. Buffy took a big breath, walked over and punched Riley as hard as she could. Riley took a second to recover, drew back his fist and hit her across the nose. She attacked him, but before she got herself hurt trying to defend herself, Angel grabbed her around the waist and hauled her away leaving Riley screaming that he wanted to press charges and Xander trying to clam him down and explain things to Giles.

"What the Hell do you think you're doing trying to take on Riley?! That was absolutely idiotic."

"You did it, Xander did it and it wasn't even you he was talking about Angel. I deserve to be able to beat him up."

"I'm not arguing, but you have to know that you** can** beat him up. He would've killed you."

Buffy stomped off and got in her car. Angel was left staring at her taillights as she drove home for the day. He only hoped that she would come over to his apartment after she cooled down. But somewhere in the back of his mind he knew she would need more that an hour or two by herself.

The next morning the special FBI agent arrived. Buffy walked into her office and was met with a strange man wearing tight blue jeans, a worn leather jacket and smoking a cigarette. But it was his hair that drew her attention. It was platinum blonde, obviously died, and slicked back. It looked like he spent more time on his hair then she ever did on hers.

"Can I help you sir?"

The man turned around to reveal piercing blue eyes. "Well hello, love. It's nice to finally meet you. I'm FBI agent William Deveraux. But you can call me Spike."

What'd you think? I know it's a little short, but it's the best I can do at the moment. The next chapter of either Jarthran or Trust me will be out next, though I'm not sure which. Check back in a couple days to see what happens. 


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